16th Dallas man is cleared by DNA testing

Innocence Project client Steven Phillips, who was convicted in 1984 of a sexual assault he didn’t commit, served more than two decades in prison before he was released on parole in December. Throughout his incarceration, he wrote dozens of letters and appeals protesting his innocence. Now, DNA has proven that another man, who died in prison serving time for similar assaults, committed the attack for which Phillips was convicted. Phillips says he pled guilty to other related attacks because he feared he would be wrongfully convicted again by a jury. Innocence Project attorneys are working to clear these other charges now that DNA points to the alternate suspect in the crime spree for which Phillips was convicted. Prosecutors and police have always maintained that the same person committed all of the crimes, and the DNA testing in the 1984 conviction proves that Phillips is not that man.

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Phillips is the 16th person to be cleared by DNA testing in Dallas after serving time for a wrongful conviction.

View a slideshow of the others cleared by DNA in Dallas on the Dallas Morning News website

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